| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: in value that the particular husbandries cease to be remunerative, and
many a farmer will give up his tillage of the soil and betake himself
to the business of a merchant, or of a shopkeeper, to banking or
money-lending. But the converse is the case in the working of silver;
there the larger the quantity of ore discovered and the greater the
amount of silver extracted, the greater the number of persons ready to
engage in the operation. One more illustration: take the case of
movable property. No one when he has got sufficient furniture for his
house dreams of making further purchases on this head, but of silver
no one ever yet possessed so much that he was forced to cry "enough."
On the contrary, if ever anybody does become possessed of an
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: to them. Their want of wonder will not help them toward the
required explanation: and to them, as to us, as soon as we begin
asking, "HOW?" and "WHY?" the mighty Mother will only reply with
that magnificent smile of hers, most genial, but most silent, which
she has worn since the foundation of all worlds; that silent smile
which has tempted many a man to suspect her of irony, even of
deceit and hatred of the human race; the silent smile which Solomon
felt, and answered in "Ecclesiastes;" which Goethe felt, and did
not answer in his "Faust;" which Pascal felt, and tried to answer
in his "Thoughts," and fled from into self-torture and
superstition, terrified beyond his powers of endurance, as he found
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: These animals may also be captured without aid of gin or caltrop, by
sheer coursing in hot summer time; they get so tired, they will stand
still to be shot down. If hard pressed they will plunge into the sea
or take to water of any sort in their perplexity, and at times will
drop down from sheer want of breath.[36]
[36] "From mere shortness of breath."
X
To cope with the wild boar the huntsman needs to have a variety of
dogs, Indian, Cretan, Locrian, and Laconian,[1] along with a stock of
nets, javelins, boar-spears, and foot-traps.
[1] For these breeds see Pollux, v. 37: for the Laconian, Pind. "Fr."
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: life-interest and his fourth in capital. Thus his debt to those
children will be reduced to one hundred and sixty thousand francs, or
thereabouts, exclusive of his savings and profits from the common fund
constituted for husband and wife. If, on the contrary, he dies first,
leaving a male heir, Madame de Manerville has a right to three hundred
and sixty thousand francs only, and to her deeds of gift of such of
her husband's property as is not included in the entail, to the
diamonds now settled upon her, and to her profits and savings from the
common fund."
The effect of Maitre Mathias's astute and far-sighted policy were now
plainly seen.
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